Rebuild complete: Can new leaders guide Canada to another women's hockey gold'

The rebuild this time was more daunting than Melody Davidson could ever recall, and she has basically been around since the first puck drop.

Jayna Hefford, Gillian Apps and Catherine Ward took their combined nine Olympic gold medals with them into retirement in 2015. Hayley Wickenheiser shut the dressing room door on a fabulous, influential 23-year national team career in January 2017. Caroline Ouellette called timeout two months later, after 16 years with the national team. Jessica Campbell joined the exodus in September, Tara Watchorn in October.

Wickenheiser (276), Hefford (267) and Ouellette (220) were the top three names on the games played list.

“We faced a quad that we’ve never faced before,” said Davidson, GM of Hockey Canada’s women’s programs. “A lot of top-end players moved on in this quad, and they had been around for so long that the next wave of players didn’t necessarily have all the experience that they needed to perform early in the quad. So we had to build the four years on experience, getting as many people experienced as possible.”

5-1 defeat in the gold-medal game. The Americans also won the 2017 world championships. And 2016. And 2015. If you dig deeper, the Americans have won almost every meaningful game between the two nations since the 2014 Four Nations Cup.

It can all be rendered meaningless with a gold medal in Korea. And so, with all the losses of recent championships in mind, Davidson said the generation of offence has been a focus, particularly in practice, over the last two years. Veteran forwards Marie-Philip Poulin and Meghan Agosta made sure all that practice paid off as they led the season series against the U.S. with five points apiece, while Poulin’s four goals were tops.

“We have a lot of offence on this team,” veteran defender Meaghan Mikkelson said in the fall. “It’s just a matter of putting everything together, making sure we take care of all the details. It often comes down to one goal, one bounce, one mistake.”

That’s hockey, all right. At crucial junctures you count on the steadying hand of experience. When so much of it heads out the door, basically all at once, it takes time, and the ability to replace.

“Poulin, with the experience in big-game moments, is the leader of the group,” said Davidson. “But we’ve got a whole crop who at one time or another have been looked to to lead this group — whether it’s through the dark, dark days of November, or boot camp, or the fun times of August when we first come together, or the move to Calgary to get settled in.”

She reeled off the names of Mikkelson, Brianne Jenner, Jocelyne Larocque, Haley Irwin and Melodie Daoust.

“The way of the world now seems to be leadership by committee. (Poulin) is the leader of that committee and she has some great lieutenants.”

There will be also be nine first-time Olympians in Pyeongchang, and they will get needed guidance from that core of veterans. That’s how it works.

“A lot of the older players showed me the ropes. That’s what makes you a great teammate,” said Agosta, now the team’s career games-played leader. “You bring the younger players’ confidence up to where it needs to be. You tell them, ‘you’re here for a reason. You’re good enough, skilled enough and talented enough to be playing at this level. Don’t think, just do.’”

Poulin, who was named captain again on Jan. 22, is seen as the team’s most potent dual threat, a sniper with acknowledged leadership abilities.

“Marie-Philip has done an amazing job of putting the team on her back and being an amazing leader,” said Agosta. “I’ve gotten to know her more on a personal level. She’s not only an amazing hockey player, she’s a great person. Her work ethic alone is contagious, and it’s a domino effect. People want to follow in her footsteps. She has done a tremendous job of stepping up and being captain of this team. Everybody believes in her and she has proved time and time again she is the right person for the job.”

Poulin learned leadership from Hefford, Apps, Wickenheiser and Ouellette, starting that first day in 2009 when she walked into the dressing room.

“Those are pretty big names and having a chance to play with them is pretty intimidating,” said Poulin. “But they really made you feel part of the team right away. They were so genuine and humble people.”

And now they’re gone. The turnover is complete, the new leaders have emerged, another Team Canada is ready.

“We had the chance to learn from the girls before us,” said Poulin. “Those girls have been an amazing part of the team. Those are big shoes to fill, but we have that core group here.”